top 30 from the fen

top 30 - the education issue

2009-12-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

Having only had a Statcounter account for a year or so, I'm not sure how long people in schools, universities and other educational establishments have been accessing Tales from a Draughty Old Fen, but it's gratifying that they do. It's also, for me, a timely reminder that not everybody in these institutions ascribes to trendy views of sinister left-wing bodies, for whom ideological hegemony in educational systems is key.

So, without further ado, here's the top 30 as accessed by schools boards and associations, universities and educational charities, etc. I haven't counted or identified individual schools whence the blog's been accessed.

Underage smoking is more stupid than criminal An unorthodox but time-honoured way to discourage an underage smoker, using inclusion instead of stigmatisation. Accessed by schools authorities internationally.

Was the presidential election a set-up?When Goulong Li went head-to-head with Tom Chigbo for the presidency of Cambridge University Student Union, university dons took the unprecedented move of briefing against Li in local and even national newspapers, professing their shock at his opinion - which he had spoken freely for a year and a half - that homosexuals could be "cured". But the point at which he lost the election may have been when, during the filmed hustings, he took his Bible from his pocket. This post was very popular in both Cambridge and universities across the US.

Cannabis policy's in no more chaos than usual As Frank Nutt's supporters predict Bad Things for drugs policies in the wake of his removal as head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, I find myself in the unusual position of supporting the government on his sacking.

Abigail Blackburn and the truth about pregorexia Celebrity culture eats its own children, and nobody profits more than editors like Abigail Blackburn. Written about a documentary by singer and model Louise Redknapp, the post has been enduringly popular within and outwith educational establishments.

Anne Frank In the display on Anne Frank in Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital - the foundation was delivering diversity training - we saw the world famous picture of Anne staring into a future she would never see. Accessed by some universities, but predominantly by schools.

Norman Tebbit and the art of Risk Former Conservative Party chairman Norman Tebbit showed a magisterial understanding of the concept of risk when he suggested voters could elect smaller parties as a reaction to the MPs' expenses crisis. Councils, schools and insurance companies take note.

Fatal Misconception - the struggle to control world population Indira Gandhi's first government collapsed in chaos because of population control measures drawn up by white westerners, but eugenics has returned. Very popular in India for reasons that become obvious, but also internationally, and by some surprising institutions.

Good taste back on the horizon - how mad are you? A documentary recreating David Rosenhahn's 1972 experiment involving "pseudopatients" admittied to a psychiatric ward - with surprising results.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows From Harry Potter through such stopping points as Odysseus and back - but contains spoilers: big ones! Both unis and schools seemed to like this one.

Chlamydia, koalas and killer sex education The government is attacking the epidemic of chlamydia in young people on two fronts: firstly, by grafting it onto its campaign to delay early sex; and secondly, by handing out condoms to the population it's trying to delay early sex within.

Claire Sweeney's big fat... What exactly was Claire Sweeney's motivation to put on as much weight as possible in a short time? No offence to the starlet, but it was a bit of a relief to see this post out of the top two for a change; US and Canadian universities seemed to like this one.

Baby RB and the misery of medics When Baby RB's parents went to court because the mother felt his congenital myasthenic syndrome meant he would be better off dead and the father disagreed, medics showed what side they were on by employing the language of counselling instead of a medical vocabulary. It fell to the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children's Anthony Ozimic [pictured] to draw a line in the sand. [Baby RB's father decided he agreed with his ex-wife during the court case - the child is now dead.]

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 - the music won Alexander Rybak took the prize at the best Eurovision for years. It's just a pity Terry Wogan had to retire to get the sleaze stopped. Obviously popular in Europe, but for some reason really took off in Turkey.

Have I got bad language for you? When comedian Frank Skinner decided to monitor and reduce his swearing in his act as a reaction to the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand answerphone fiasco, he found the result positive. But the BBC's own reaction to the fiasco was more sinister than anything.

Propaganda in words and pictures An actual GCSE Science paper, showing the sort of propaganda our children are confronted with daily as regards issues related to the beginning of life.

Why does the BBC hate intelligent women? The BBC's shameful persecution of Oxford's Corpus Christi College University Challenge team, fronted by the "human google" Gail Trimble, revealed the corporation's underlying misogyny. Accessed by lots of English universities.

Altruistic octopodes and going the extra mile In one of his Life documentaries, David Attenburgh showed us an animal's way of protecting its eggs that was a welcome relief from the usual ichneumon wasp which - in its defence - never intended to spark a crisis of confidence in Victorian Christians.

Golliwog-gate:the racism of anti-racists When Carol Thatcher, daughter of the former prime-minister, was accused of racism, were there sinister undercurrents at play?

Children in need of morally competent adults Children in Need is unusual in the modern BBC, in that it not only presumes but demands moral givens.

Top ten songs about ghost stories We are a narrative species. Storytelling is as fundamental an activity for human beings as eating or sleeping, and ghost stories are an integral part of this. This is one of two of my "top ten songs about..." posts that made it in.

BBC - Murdoch throws his agendas into the debate When James Murdoch said he wanted to see the BBC broken up, he indicated that the marketplace should be a matter of the survival of the fittest - a phrase which horrified Charles Darwin because it typified the social Darwinism which so horrified him.

Margaret Thatcher - it was 30 years ago today The anniversary of the election of Great Britain's greatest peacetime prime-minister.

Remembrance Sunday 2009On how a small village ceremony participated in the remembrance services worldwide.

Top ten songs about water In the ancient Church, catechumenates used to meditate on water during Lent prior to their Easter baptism. I can't promise a meditation, but here's some songs and some thoughts. Schoolboards in Canada liked this one.

Lockerbie and the moral limits of diplomacy What happens when politicians with the skills of neither a Richelieu nor a Bismarck mess about with international diplomacy?

"Tear down this wall!" With only 365 days in the year, a lot of anniversaries are competing for a linmited number of anniversaries. Kristallnacht on November 9, for example, even though it's now famous for another event.

Don't go down the road to hell, it's jammed with bendy-buses How an amusing article by comedienne Ariane Sherine was subverted by radical militant atheists with sinister agendas.

Crocs, giraffes and the vagrant nerve: inside nature's giants Richard Dawkins attends the dissection of a giraffe's recurent laryngeal nerve by,among others, Joy Reidenberg, but fails to forward his agenda with the innervation of unborn vertebrates.

Halloween - don't grudge horror from Japan Takashi Shimizu's The Grudge, starring Takako Fuji as the ghost Kayako, marks the beginning of the end for Hollywood's ego-fuelled grip on the horror film.

Drink driving campaigns - a worked out example Bridget Driscoll was the first driving casualty in 1896, and unfortunately the deaths haven't ceased. Here's one example of a national anti-drink-driving campaign.

top 30 - 2 November 09

2009-11-01T12:59:00.000-08:00

Abigail Blackburn and the truth about pregorexia Celebrity culture eats its own children, and nobody profits more than editors like Abigail Blackburn.

Claire Sweeney's big fat... What exactly was Claire Sweeney's motivation to put on as much weight as possible in a short time?

Top ten songs about thomas Thomas is an acronym for Those on the margins of society. As the Cambridge magazine for homeless people, Willow Walker, looks for funders, here are songs about pathways to those margins and ways out of them.

Don't go down the road to hell, it's jammed with bendy-buses How an amusing article by comedienne Ariane Sherine was subverted by radical militant atheists with sinister agendas.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows From Harry Potter through such stopping points as Odysseus and back - but contains spoilers: big ones!

Top ten songs about places Sometimes songs about places strike a chord, and can stay with us over a lifetime.

G20 - all fools' day for protestors? When radical anthropologist Chris Knight and former Playboy centrefold Marina Pepper united to urge protestors to burn the banks at the G20 meeting in London on April 1, 2009, there could be only one result: short-lived self-promotion.

How diverse is diversity? On a diversity course, a left-leaning friend of mine pointed out that diversity isn't a good in itself, and pointed to Adolf Hitler as the most diversity-aware leader of modern times. I'm working on putting him in touch with his inner conservative.

The curious case of the compassionate politician Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, has been treated with a level of compassion that, say, abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit markedly has not.

Top ten songs about ghost stories We are a narrative species. Storytelling is as fundamental an activity for human beings as eating or sleeping, and ghost stories are an integral part of this.

Blood, tears and celebrity dentists An NHS dentist resembling Brad Pitt comes to the rescue of a woman badly served by profiteers.

Advent - preparing for the preparation Meditating on the Magnificat can take you to strange places.

The ichneumon delusion Review of the first of three programmes in which Richard Dawkins ostensibly celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birh, but in reality announces his self-apotheosis.

Propaganda in words and pictures An actual GCSE Science paper, showing the sort of propaganda our children are confronted with daily as regards issues related to the beginning of life.

The passions of Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will soon be retiring from Opera, but will remain active in teaching singers how to produce the music she is so passionate about. Simon Cowell need not apply.

Halloween - don't grudge horror from Japan Takashi Shimizu's The Grudge, starring Takako Fuji as the ghost Kayako, marks the end of Hollywood's ego-fuelled grip on the horror film.

The orthodoxy of orthodonty There's more to life than perfect teeth.

Children in need of morally competent adults Children in Need is unusual in the modern BBC, in that it not only presumes but demands moral givens.

Golliwog-gate:the racism of anti-racists When Carol Thatcher, daughter of the former prime-minister, was accused of racism, were there sinister undercurrents at play?

The Willow Walker looks for a funder Having secured a fund to ensure that the Autumn 2008 issue of the Willow Walker is published, editor Kirsten Lavers and the English Churches Housing Group are looking for funders for this valuable service that gives presently and formerly homeless people in Cambridge a hand up instead of a hand out.

Good taste back on the horizon - how mad are you? A documentary recreating David Rosenhahn's 1972 experiment involving "pseudopatients" admittied to a psychiatric ward - with surprising results.

Margaret Thatcher - it was 30 years ago today The anniversary of the election of Great Britain's greatest peacetime prime-minister.

BBC: bullying has Brucie baring his teeth When yet another insult from Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel-Horwood proved the last straw for Brendan Cole as he struggled to shield Jo Wood from bullying, it was also the last straw for Bruce Forsyth.

Rizla - a smoke or a toke? Did Rizla protest too much when it objected to being mentioned in an anti-cannabis campaign?

There's nothing British about Nick Griffin on Question Time Labour's posturing over issues of the British National Party's access to the machinery of democracy disguises the lack of distance between far-left and far-right views.

Desecration and Hope The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs was recently targeted by a self-styled "Magus" who claims to have raised an "elemental" in it.

top 30 - 18 October 2009

2009-10-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

Claire Sweeney's big fat... What exactly was Claire Sweeney's motivation to put on as much weight as possible in a short time?

Abigail Blackburn and the truth about pregorexia Celebrity culture eats its own children, and nobody profits more than editors like Abigail Blackburn.

Altruistic octopi and going the extra mile Maybe Richard Dawkins has been meditating on the life and death of arthropods for too long in his, to him, fruitless search for altruism. A meditation on the BBC/Open University documentary The Challenges of Life.

Don't go down the road to hell, it's jammed with bendy-buses How an amusing article by comedienne Ariane Sherine was subverted by radical militant atheists with sinister agendas.

Pictures from my mother I've still got the case my mother was given for her first day of school in the 1930s, and recently unpacked its treasures.

Desecration and Hope The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs was recently targeted by a self-styled "Magus" who claims to have raised an "elemental" in it.

Underage smoking is more stupid than criminal An unorthodox but time-honoured way to discourage an underage smoker.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows From Harry Potter through such stopping points as Odysseus and back - but contains spoilers: big ones!

Golliwog-gate:the racism of anti-racists When Carol Thatcher, daughter of the former prime-minister, was accused of racism, were there sinister undercurrents at play?

In memory of Kerry Wooltorton When Kerry Wooltorton handed paramedics a letter instructing that she not be resuscitated after swallowing poison, was she conforming to climate change fanatics' fevered desire that the population be reduced by any means?

Swine flu - is it time to panic yet? The stampede of people who sought to have themselves diagnosed (or otherwise) with swine flu on the government website/helpline smacked of panic.

The ichneumon delusion Review of the first of three programmes in which Richard Dawkins ostensibly celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birh, but in reality announces his self-apotheosis.

Mother Earth: sometimes the eyes don't have it The collector I met in Cambridge, who was trying to source funds for Friends of the Earth, wasn't taken with James Lovelock's idea that we protect Amazonia by burying nuclear waste there.

Children in need of morally competent adults Children in Need is unusual in the modern BBC, in that it not only presumes but demands moral givens.

The rhythms of lives Paul Johnstone of the Spectator once published his ten favourite short poems - herer's my ten!

"I need to say my say" Mary Pickford proved that success in Hollywood didn't guarantee happiness, as failing to break in the States is the straw that broke Katie Price's marriage to Peter André.

Propaganda in words and pictures An actual GCSE Science paper, showing the sort of propaganda our children are confronted with daily as regards issues related to the beginning of life.

Underage smoking is more stupid than criminal An unorthodox but time-honoured way to discourage an underage smoker.

Bullies breaking society's bonds - so bin the box A post marking the beginning of Anti-Bullying Week. Anthropogenic climate change pioneer Roger Revelle, who turned Al Gore onto the idea, was accused of being mentally ill when he excercised his right to change his mind.

Where are they now? Where are the people who should have picked up a death-rate at Staffordshire General Hospital approaching that of Harold Shipman's patients. Cynthia Bower, who was in charge of auditing standards in the region, is now Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission.

Maunday Thursday - beyond the comfort zone When I admitted at Morning Prayer that not going to Church was becoming as normal as going had once been, our Curate replied with one of Christianity's greatest weapons - hilarity; one of the suggestions was to chain me to a pew.

Travails of the Jabberwock Tracking the mythical beast's decline through its various incarnations from Through the Looking Glass to The Last Mimsy.

Top ten songs about ghost stories We are a narrative species. Storytelling is as fundamental an activity for human beings as eating or sleeping, and ghost stories are an integral part of this.

Stqate marriage? It never worked the first time Recently the government announced a plan to declare couples who had a child together as married by default. In Just Sex, Guy Brandon relates what happened when the Soviets under Lenin adopted a similar measure.

top 30 - 2 October 2009

2009-10-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows From Harry Potter through such stopping points as Odysseus and back - but contains spoilers: big ones!

The ichneumon delusion Review of the first of three programmes in which Richard Dawkins ostensibly celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birh, but in reality announces his self-apotheosis.

Don't go down the road to hell, it's jammed with bendy-buses How an amusing article by comedienne Ariane Sherine was subverted by radical militant atheists with sinister agendas.

The orthodoxy of orthodonty There's more to life than perfect teeth.

When Fiona Pilkington set fire to the car she and her disabled daughter were sitting in after a decade of abuse lead by the Simmons family, liberal-socialist therapy-led interventions for antisocial scum were also cremated.

Claire Sweeney's big fat... What exactly was Claire Sweeney's motivation to put on as much weight as possible in a short time?

Abigail Blackburn and the truth about pregorexia Celebrity culture eats its own children, and nobody profits more than editors like Abigail Blackburn.

W'ell vote on politics not pillsThe blog that originated a rumour that Gordon Brown was on antidepressants was - whether he is or not - fuelled more by wishful thinking than facts. This could still prove to be a poisoned agenda of a chalice.

How The Simpsons made my day As my faith in my ability to stand against politically correct anti-life fascism faltered, I little suspected that The Simpsons would come to my rescue.

International Blasphemy Day: behind the mask The organisers of International Blasphemy Day have ignored every day being blasphemy day - for some faiths.

Top ten songs about ghost stories Storytelling is as fundamental an activity for human beings as eating or sleeping, and ghost stories are an integral part of this.

Strictly Dancing Rumours of ageism on the BBC1 show Strictly Come Dancing seem to be much exagerrated, and hide the truth behind Arlene Philips' departure.

Swine flu - is it time to panic yet? The stampede of people who sought to have themselves diagnosed (or otherwise) with swine flu on the government website/helpline smacked of panic.

Propaganda in words and pictures An actual GCSE Science paper, showing the sort of propaganda our children are confronted with daily as regards issues related to the beginning of life.

Why is an English village's birthrate outstripping China's? The answer is depressingly familiar, and so are some of the names that occur again and again.

Top ten songs about legend On the anniversaries of Woodstock and Elvis Presley's death, a look at songs about legends of all sorts.

Underage smoking is more stupid than criminal An unorthodox but time-honoured way to discourage an underage smoker.

Postsingular What happens after the singularity - the point at which artificial intelligence gains self-awareness and its cognitive powers surpass that of mankind? With characteristic Swiftian whimsy, Rudy Rucker offers a typically brilliant vision.

Running from the void Key points in Mohammed's life and a comparison with his reaction to the temptation to power to Jesus's. An attempt to release more heat than light in the run-up to the trial of the Vogelenzangs, who have been accused of insulting Islam.

The price of not being a victim Abducted toddler Madeleine McCann's parents have paid the price in spades for not playing the victim role for the more manipulative sectors of the media.

Curtains for truth as hostilities begin (New) Labour is an Enlightenment project more concerned with massaging the narrative than dealing with the reality of Broken Britain. 3 accusations of gross negligence on Labour's behalf.

Harriet Potters with Cambriggeshire Car Fees Labour's plans for congestion charges outside London are bad enough, but ironically, Harriet Harman's class-war-based plans to deprive "middle class" areas of buses might be the end of them.

Golliwog-gate:the racism of anti-racists When Carol Thatcher, daughter of the former prime-minister, was accused of racism, were there sinister undercurrents at play?

Elephants, Arthritis and Euthanasia: Inside Nature's Giants Channel 4's cerebral treatment of a post-mortem on an elephant.

Top 30 - 27 September 2009

2009-09-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

Claire Sweeney's big fat... What exactly was Claire Sweeney's motivation to put on as much weight as possible in a short time?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows From Harry Potter through such stopping points as Odysseus and back - but contains spoilers: big ones!

The orthodoxy of orthodonty There's more to life than perfect teeth.

Top Ten songs about HopeIn darker times it's good to reflect, among other things, on those parts of popular culture that point towards another place - upstairs, as it were.

Don't go down the road to hell, it's jammed with bendy-buses How an amusing article by comedienne Ariane Sherine was subverted by radical militant atheists with sinister agendas.

The price of not being a victim Abducted toddler Madeleine McCann's parents have paid the price in spades for not playing the victim role for the more manipulative sectors of the media.

When agendas come together On why it can be wrong to permit euthanasia and to give a liver transplant to somebody who had tried to kill himself. Written before the Liverpool Care Pathway controversy, and contains a discussion of suicide.

Abigail Blackburn and the truth about pregorexia Celebrity culture eats its own children, and nobody profits more than editors like Abigail Blackburn.

Women and children first The Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre remains open - just - but a women's refuge in Dorset is being closed down because it doesn't cater for men.

How The Simpsons made my day As my faith in my ability to stand against politically correct anti-life fascism faltered, I little suspected that The Simpsons would come to my rescue.

Blood, tears and celebrity dentists An NHS dentist resembling Brad Pitt comes to the rescue of a woman badly served by profiteers.

Underage smoking is more stupid than criminal An unorthodox but time-honoured way to discourage an underage smoker.

Swine flu - is it time to panic yet? The stampede of people who sought to have themselves diagnosed (or otherwise) with swine flu on the government website/helpline smacked of panic.

Golliwog-gate:the racism of anti-racists When Carol Thatcher, daughter of the former prime-minister, was accused of racism, were there sinister undercurrents at play?

Top ten songs about places Sometimes songs about places strike a chord, and can stay with us over a lifetime.

Whales and unintelligent evolution: Inside Nature's Giants The on-site autopsy of a huge fin-whale that grounded itself and died on Courtmacsherry Bay in Cork.

Elephants, Arthritis and Euthanasia: Inside Nature's Giants Channel 4's cerebral treatment of a post-mortem on an elephant.

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 - the music won Alexander Rybak took the prize at the best Eurovision for years. It's just a pity Terry Wogan had to retire to get the sleaze stopped.

Margaret Thatcher - it was 30 years ago today The anniversary of the election of Great Britain's greatest peacetime prime-minister.

Advent - preparing for the preparation Meditating on the Magnificat can take you to strange places.

Hot gossip: Sarah Kennedy and the obvious observation Sarah Kennedy committed the closest thing to a mortal sin in the BBC by calling Enoch Powell the greatest Prime Minister Britain never had.

The ichneumon delusion Review of the first of three programmes in which Richard Dawkins ostensibly celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birh, but in reality announces his self-apotheosis.

Night Fighters Some wars are with us for a long time - Colin Heaton's and Anne-Marie Lewis's authoratative history of the night-war over Europe 1939-1945, and the advances in many fields which came about as a result.

top 30 no 3

2009-09-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

Claire Sweeney's big fat... What exactly was Claire Sweeney's motivation to put on as much weight as possible in a short time?

9/11 2009 Project 2,996 gets round Stalin's dictum that one person's death is a tragedy while a million's is a statistic by assigning volunteers to remember one victim each. Fellow blogger Isramom's is Ronald John Hemenway.

Abigail Blackburn and the truth about pregorexia Celebrity culture eats its own children, and nobody profits more than editors like Abigail Blackburn.

The orthodoxy of orthodonty There's more to life than perfect teeth.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows From Harry Potter through such stopping points as Odysseus and back - but contains spoilers: big ones!

Save the Willow Walker English Churches Housing Group's deciison to no longer seek funding for the Willow Walker, a magazine for homeless people in Cambridge, on the grounds that its activities and articles aren't in line with ECHG's Christian ethos, will keep media theologians in beer money for years.

Tesco: single-issue campaigners in tatters It feels like the Tesco store in Cambridge's Mill Road has been there forever, and the No Mill Road Tesco campaign is already in tatters.

Top ten songs about literature You heard it here first - there was a time when hit songs were based on Shakespeare!

Don't go down the road to hell, it's jammed with bendy-buses How an amusing article by comedienne Ariane Sherine was subverted by radical militant atheists with sinister agendas.

Swine flu and the hazard of hysteria This year 500,000 people will be killed by flu. That's the number who die every year. But the hysteria being whipped up about swine flu will help gevernments advance their agenda of having their citizens accept vaccinations unquestioningly, something Kant would have disapproved of.

Top ten songs about ghost stories Storytelling is as fundamental an activity for human beings as eating or sleeping, and ghost stories are an integral part of this.

Hot gossip: Sarah Kennedy and the obvious observation Sarah Kennedy committed the closest thing to a mortal sin in the BBC by calling Enoch Powell the greatest Prime Minister Britain never had.

Why is an English village's birthrate outstripping China's? The answer is depressingly familiar, and so are some of the names that occur again and again.

Golliwog-gate:the racism of anti-racists When Carol Thatcher, daughter of the former prime-minister, was accused of racism, were there sinister undercurrents at play?

Is the way to save the world lies and gloom? Only now that it's illegal to buy real light bulbs for home use are we finding the true facts about the "eco-friendly" bulbs' longeivity and dangers.

Travails of the Jabberwock Tracking the mythical beast's decline through its various incarnations from Through the Looking Glass to The Last Mimsy.

Advent - preparing for the preparation Meditating on the Magnificat can take you to strange places.

Master of Space and Time One of Rudy Rucker's earlier novels (1984), the author demonstrates that obituaties of science fiction are misplaced.

Underage smoking is more stupid than criminal An unorthodox but time-honoured way to discourage an underage smoker.

The ichneumon delusion Review of the first of three programmes in which Richard Dawkins ostensibly celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birh, but in reality announces his self-apotheosis.

All I want to do is shop at Tesco's A picture speaks a thousand words, but nobody says they have to be true. In the fight to keep Tesco out of Cambridge's Mill Road, this is how the Cambridge Cycling Campaign depicted a small Tesco Express store on its website.

Elephants, Arthritis and Euthanasia: Inside Nature's Giants Channel 4's cerebral treatment of a post-mortem on an elephant.

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 - the music won Alexander Rybak took the prize at the best Eurovision for years. It's just a pity Terry Wogan had to retire to get the sleaze stopped.

The sum of our fears The Sum of All Fears is Tom Clancy's darkest book and, like many works that explore our shadows, his most profound.

top 30 no. 2

2009-09-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

Claire Sweeney's big fat... What exactly was Claire Sweeney's motivation to put on as much weight as possible in a short time?

Golliwog-gate:the racism of anti-racists When Carol Thatcher, daughter of the former prime-minister, was accused of racism, were there sinister undercurrents at play?

Betrayal can, in some cases, be therapeutic, especially when the wellbeing of vulnerable people is at stake, as a recent Patients' Association report shows.

Abigail Blackburn and the truth about pregorexia Celebrity culture eats its own children, and nobody profits more than editors like Abigail Blackburn.

The orthodoxy of orthodonty There's more to life than perfect teeth.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows From Harry Potter through such stopping points as Odysseus and back - but contains spoilers: big ones!

Don't go down the road to hell, it's jammed with bendy-buses How an amusing article by comedienne Ariane Sherine was subverted by radical militant atheists with sinister agendas.

Tesco: single-issue campaigners in tatters It feels like the Tesco store in Cambridge's Mill Road has been there forever, and the No Mill Road Tesco campaign is already in tatters.

In the ancient Church, catechumenates used to meditate on water during Lent prior to their Easter baptism. I can't promise a meditation, but here's some songs and some thoughts.

Underage smoking is more stupid than criminal An unorthodox but time-honoured way to discourage an underage smoker.

Propaganda in words and pictures An actual GCSE Science paper, showing the sort of propaganda our children are confronted with daily as regards issues related to the beginning of life.

Hot gossip: Sarah Kennedy and the obvious observation Sarah Kennedy committed the closest thing to a mortal sin in the BBC by calling Enoch Powell the greatest Prime Minister Britain never had.

Travails of the Jabberwock Tracking the mythical beast's decline through its various incarnations from Through the Looking Glass and The Last Mimsy.

The ichneumon delusion Review of the first of three programmes in which Richard Dawkins ostensibly celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birh, but in reality announces his self-apotheosis.

Stop press, breaking news, shock horror probe: snow in winter In Rome, a hot mediterranean city, snow hardly bothers transport and business - so why does it close down many English cities?

Lockerbie and the moral limits of diplomacy What happens when politicians with the skills of neither a Richelieu nor a Bismarck mess about with international diplomacy?

Top ten songs about places Sometimes songs about places strike a chord, and can stay with us over a lifetime.

Hiroshima - a thousand suns A review of the literature tracing the path to Hiroshima - how have we fared since?

Top ten songs about legend On the anniversaries of Woodstock and Elvis Presley's death, a look at songs about legends of all sorts.

Homeless not hopeless The launch of a company run by people who are or have been homeless and their friends.

Is the way to save the world lies and gloom? Only now that it's illegal to buy real light bulbs for home use are we finding the true facts about the "eco-friendly" bulbs' longeivity and dangers.

Mary Pickford proved that success in Hollywood didn't guarantee happiness, as failing to break in the States is the straw that broke Katie Price's marriage to Peter André.

top 30 no. 1

2009-08-18T09:49:00.001-07:00

Claire Sweeney's big fat... What exactly was Claire Sweeney's motivation to put on as much weight as possible in a short time?

Golliwog-gate:the racism of anti-racists When Carol Thatcher, daughter of the former prime-minister, was accused of racism, were there sinister undercurrents at play?

Abigail Blackburn and the truth about pregorexia Celebrity culture eats its own children, and nobody profits more than editors like Abigail Blackburn.

The orthodoxy of orthodonty There's more to life than perfect teeth.

The British left meddles in a very American dilemma A British bride who was told that she couldn't have smear tests until the age of 25 and who, now at that age, is dying of cervical cancer, is saying she has been misrepresented in the US media debate over proposed "Obamacare" healthcare reforms.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows From Harry Potter through such stopping points as Odysseus and back - but contains spoilers: big ones!

Lockerbie and the moral limits of diplomacy What happens when politicians with the skills of neither a Richelieu nor a Bismarck try to fill their shoes?

Underage smoking is more stupid than criminal An unorthodox but time-honoured way to discourage an underage smoker.

Blood, tears and celebrity dentists An NHS dentist resembling Brad Pitt comes to the rescue of a woman badly served by profiteers.

Pigs might fly Like their human counterparts, Butch and the Sundance Pig were only taken after a long fight. By this time, of course, questions had been asked in Parliament.

All I want to do is shop in Tesco's Did the Co-op and Cambridge City Council, who funded the Cambridge Folk Festival, know that there was going to be an anti-Tesco demonstration?

Happy St George's Day! As a fellow exile living in England - though from not nearly as far away - I liked the introduction to the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu's speech on Englishness at the Sunday Times Literary Festival in Oxford.

Don't go down the road to hell, it's jammed with bendy-buses How an amusing article by comedienne Ariane Sherine was subverted by radical militant atheists with sinister agendas.

Top ten songs about ghost stories Storytelling forms as much of the human experience as eating, breathing and sleeping, and ghost stories are an intrinsic part of this. What lies beyond? What if...? What comes after?

The ichneumon delusion Review of the first of three programmes in which Richard Dawkins ostensibly celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birh, but in reality announces his self-apotheosis.

Master of Space and Time One of Rudy Rucker's earlier novels (1984), the author demonstrates that obituaties of science fiction are misplaced.

Top ten songs about places Sometimes songs about places strike a chord, and can stay with us over a lifetime.

Hot gossip: Sarah Kennedy and the obvious observation Sarah Kennedy committed the closest thing to a mortal sin in the BBC by calling Enoch Powell the greatest Prime Minister Britain never had.

Maunday Thursday - beyond the comfort zone Sometimes hilarity can be one of Christendom's most powerful weapons.

Rizla - a smoke or a toke? Did Rizla protest too much when it objected to being mentioned in an anti-cannabis campaign?

Top ten songs about America Here's ten songs about the US, in a post written on Independence day.

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 - the music won When Alexander Rybak won Eurovision for Norway, we saw the contest rejuvenated.

Cocaine - heartless, soulless waste The UK has achieved the sinister prominence of becoming the world's cocaine consumption capital.

Whales and unintelligent evolution: Inside Nature's Giants The on-site autopsy of a hue fin-whale that grounded itself and died on Courtmacsherry Bay in Cork.

Margaret Thatcher - it was 30 years ago today The anniversary of the election of Great Britain's greatest peacetime prime-minister.

Travails of the Jabberwock Tracking the mythical beast's decline through its various incarnations from Through the Looking Glass and The Last Mimsy.